SiteAdvisor samples nearly 150,000 downloads for malware

The good folks at SiteAdvisor have put in a good bit of work in checking 140,000 downloads from over a million sites to find and rate the “best of the worst”sites and downloads when it comes to adware.

In their trials, they downloaded various ‘program bundles’ (and screensavers) and rated them with a “nusiance” factor, a collective score to say how much grief a certain download will cost you.

The results were mostly unsurprising — apart from the package that includes defunct adware — go to places wanting to make a quick buck and you’ll find more ‘bundles of joy’ than a hospital maternity ward. There’s not a lot I hate more than being called to de-junk a computer of contextual advertising BHOs and other malfeasances.